The aim of this work is the synthesis of simplified analogues of lysergic acid, structurally related to that compound, and the evaluation of their pharmacological activity in order to discover a structure- action relationship between LSD-like activity and molecular architecture in this field. By retaining certain structural features of lysergic acid molecule, and omitting others, information is being accumulated regarding the minimum requirements for pharmacological activity in this series. A new and successful synthetic pathway to the desired structures has been developed, and preliminary pharmacological data on the first products are highly encouraging.